So I’ve been thinking that maybe, if I get get a computer desk, maybe I’ll also just pop for a second printer, too. Wireless sharing of one printer seems like a good idea, but is it? I’m no longer convinced it’s worth it. So whether it’s an Epson tm-t88iv, a Kodak, a laser or an ink-jet, I am thinking that a two-printer solution might be the way to go… again.

Sure, winter seems all cozy and romantic with visions of cuddling before a wood fire together dancing in one’s head; but the reality is that winter’s a lot of colds, congestion, sleepless nights, annoying weather and discomfort. Who needs it?

People have always told me, “If you don’t like winter, why are you living in Minnesota?” My response has always been that everyone who means something to me is here.

However, much as I care about my friends, it may not take too many more long, cold winters to make me start reconsidering how those scales balance out. Something like Seattle, Portland or even San Diego rentals sounds increasingly more attractive.

Sure, there’s not a lot that an iPod can do to improve my writing directly, but I can listen to audio books on it, not just music, and they’ve never sounded better. I used to think there wasn’t much difference among MP3 players, but now that I have a real iPod with iTunes, I can’t imagine how I ever got along with that Insignia for so long…

Parker was a prototypical hardboilded detective fiction writer, projecting the standard tough-guy image. Actors who have played his series characters… Robert Urich and, later, Joe Montagna, on Spenser; and more recently, Tom Selleck as Jesse Stone… are all folks who bear a passing resemblance to Parker himself, as his fictional characters tended to.

Though in his seventies and certainly the beneficiary of a long career, I will nevertheless miss Parker; he’d just started a “Young Spenser” series for young adults, focusing on Spenser’s teen years, that he’d barely scratched the surface on. And despite some trendiness, his novels still made the New York Times best-sellers list on a regular basis.

Yet Parker would have liked how he passed; sitting in front of his work station, working on a manuscript. While his family and fans will miss him, I can’t imagine him wanting a more apropos exit than what life handed him at the end. While a coronary event isn’t the most pleasant way to pass on, at least he didn’t have to suffer anything long and drawn out and painful like mesothelioma cancer. And he was able to stay productive right up until the end.

I started this current novel over 18 months ago, when I first learned my mother was stage four in her cancer and we’d be losing her soon. I suppose it was a bit of an escape, as well as a way of coping with the looming loss.

Which is odd because the novel doesn’t really deal with grief directly, and its theme is actually rather light and breezy, even though death is a major part of the novel – it being, of course, a mystery novel.

I suppose in some ways, enough time has gone by that I am coping with Mom’s death better these days and the novel is less therapeutic than it started out to be. But I really do hope to get back on track soon; considering why I started it, I’d love for this project to turn into my first published novel, so I can dedicate it to my Mom.

Five weeks and counting, and my desktop PC still isn’t back from Best Buy because they keep not fixing it completely. If one more thing goes wrong, I actually qualify for their “no lemon” policy and get a new computer out of the deal, although I’d be just as happy if they could fix the one I have so it works right and stops breaking down.

Of course, getting a new PC out of it would be OK, too, since it’d have Windows 7 on it and that would maybe fix some of the problems, though I wouldn’t bet my car insurance on that.

So, I’m still on my sloggy old laptop for now… which means it takes longer to do everything and I run out of time…

It’s been rare to have either, let alone both, lately. Yet that is certainly the way I’d most like to spend my time in the evening when my wife and I go to our corners to wind down before sleep. I’m spending a lot more time lately in the evening with my father and my wife, and I love it; but in the late evening hours, I do want more time to write, and a PC that doesn’t hold me back from doing so.

Is that too much to ask?

And does anyone really like prune juice, even when they need it?

For me, a lot of my questions on aging have been answered by caring for my father, who lives with my wife and I. It’s something few people do anymore, but it’s especially useful to a writer.

It re-energized me initially, but now I wonder if I’m robbing certain scenes of their dramatic power by doing so. After all, if the reader knows Zach is alive to be talking to the police, for example, they know he survived being held hostage by another suspect two days earlier, right?

Can knowing someone survives rob all the dramatic tension out of a scene? Or can a scene that you know the hero survives still keep you on the edge of your seat, if it’s well-told?

These are the things that keep me wondering about the best narrative approach. But at least I don’t need any Accutane to think it through!

Trouble is, I’m really full of ideas for my novel right now; but with my laptop as slow as it is and my desktop constantly in for repairs, it’s just hard to find the time.

Of course, I’d have more time to write if I didn’t take time to pray; but my prayer life has to come before my writing life, or the writing I do becomes worthless to me.

“It has a new motherboard, a new card reader and is running like a dream,” I was told by the enthusiastic Geek.

Then I got it home.

The first sign of trouble was this: my PC, which had great sound when I sent it in over two weeks ago, now recognizes NO sound device as being installed; not my speakers, not my headphones; nothing!

The second sign of trouble was when I received a runtime error when trying to run some of my games; they refuse to play, even after being uninstalled and re-installed.

So I called up 24-hour Geek Squad Support and was told I’d be connected to a techie who could fix things over my internet connection. Nice enough, I supposed.

Thirty minutes goes by; still on hold. At forty-five minutes I lose patience and fire up the 24-hour support software from Geek Squad. Takes ten minutes to get someone on a chat window with me.

And what does she tell me, even as I’m burning up an hour’s worth of minutes on hold, waiting for a live techie to help me?

“Oh, you need to take it back to the store anyway. We can’t help you.”

They couldn’t have told me this fifty anytime cell minutes ago?

So during all that time on hold, I got curious; I opened the box to see if maybe a wire wasn’t connected that would acknowledge the sound card. Nope, it was attached.

Then I looked more closely at my PC icon and noticed… my card reader’s slots were still invisible!

And right about then, my PC’s video started freakout out and sent my to a blue screen!

What? I realized the truth, then: all the same problems were still there, new motherboard or not.

I can’t say for sure whether my PC has a new motherboard in it, but I can say all the problems that were there are STILL there!

Then I remembered a KEY fact: My extended warranty was scheduled to expire on February 15. I renewed it for a year, though.

My suspicion? Best Buy gambled that I wouldn’t renew it, sent me the broken unit back un-fixed, and hoped to catch me out-of-warranty so they could either charge me for the repair, or force me to buy a new PC.

Heads will roll when I take this thing back to Best Buy Richfield tomorrow: BELIEVE IT! Outer banks foreclosures will be more pleasant!

If I ever change my mind, however, it’s nice to know that there are resources available now such as I never had back when I was attending college in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Resources like an online university as well as online degree programs such as are found at Western Governor’s University.

With several areas of specialization, it’s far more convenient for working people to train and get licensed as teachers these days at a place like WGU. And more convenience will ultimately mean more and better teachers available to teach children to become tomorrow’s leaders. What could be better?